Mike Bossy: 'Greatest goalscorer I ever saw'
The man who drafted the late New York Islanders legend in 1977 reflects on Mike Bossy's short, but magnificent career and his impact on the early 1980s dynasty
As the 15th overall pick in the NHL draft approached in 1977, the man who drafted Mike Bossy had a vexing decision to make. With projected NHL stars Dale McCourt and Barry Beck long gone, the New York Islanders were undecided over two players. One of them was Bossy, a scoring machine from the Laval National of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League whose defensive misgivings were the biggest reason for his drop to the bottom of the first round. The other was Dwight Foster of the Kitchener Rangers, who had led the Ontario Hockey Association in scoring and, in fact, had more points than Bossy in a tougher league.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers had already each chosen twice and passed on Bossy. Even Bossy’s hometown Montreal Canadiens weren’t interested, taking Mark Napier, who had scored 60 goals with the Birmingham Bulls of the World Hockey Association, with the 10th overall pick. “The fact that 14 players were taken before him,” said Jim Devellano, who was the Islanders’ director of scouting at the time, “was luck and a miracle. All Mike did was score goals for Laval and he didn’t pay a lot of attention to checking. We lucked into him. I’d like to say it was our skill that drafted him, but that would be bullshit and taking too much credit.”
Actually, it might have been the fact that Bossy played right wing that tipped the scales in his favor. Foster was a centerman in junior, although he played primarily as a winger in the NHL and the Islanders already had a No. 1 centerman in Bryan Trottier. “We might have gone with Foster, but as Al (former Islanders coach) Arbour said, ‘You know, you can’t teach players to score,’ ” Devellano said. “We thought, ‘This guy could really be a good power-play player,’ which we turned out to be right about.”
When Bossy died Friday after a battle with lung cancer, he was remembered as the greatest goalscorer the game has ever seen. Better than Wayne Gretzky, who holds the NHL record for career goals. Better than Alex Ovechkin, who may someday surpass him. Neither Gretzky nor Ovechkin, nor anyone else for that matter, can lay claim to Bossy’s record of scoring 50 or more goals in nine straight seasons. Bossy’s 0.76 goals per game is the highest anyone has ever posted, in part because he never had the opportunity to decline because of the back injuries that prematurely ended his career. “Greatest goalscorer I ever saw,” Devellano said. “Had he played 15 years, we’d be talking about Bossy catching Wayne Gretzky’s record. He would be doing what Ovechkin is doing now. And the four Cups, you know, the four Cups.”
Yes, the four Cups. From 1980 through 1983, Bossy played 72 playoff games for the Islanders and scored 61 goals during the team’s dynasty years. Remarkable. He scored 53 goals in his first NHL season and kept scoring. He became the second player in league history to score 50 goals in his team’s first 50 games. He was a gentleman off the ice and became an outspoken critic of the game’s culture of violence. Devellano remembered Bossy as a perfect fit for the Islanders at the time because they already had Trottier, a hard-working and talented centerman who could get the puck to Bossy in the prime scoring areas, and defenseman Denis Potvin, who could get the puck out of the zone and up to Bossy and Trottier. And they had some incredible toughness on the left side with Clark Gillies, who entered the Hockey Hall of Fame along with linemates Trottier and Bossy. Gillies died earlier this year, leaving Trottier as the only living member of the best line on one of the best teams the NHL has ever seen.
“It fit like a glove,” Devellano said. “It just all meshed. And we tried to replicate that in Detroit (where Devellano later became GM and is still an executive). We’ve been trying to do it for 40 years and we haven’t been able to quite get it right. We’re always lacking something.”
Bossy was also a product of his times. He was a heavy smoker from the time he played junior hockey, but he also played in an era when players smoked and it didn’t seem to have any detrimental effect on their game. Former Montreal Canadiens star Steve Shutt has told a story about Guy Lafleur, who is in a battle of his own with lung cancer. Prior to the 1976 Canada Cup, the team held a five-mile training run with a fitness specialist from the YMCA. As Shutt tells the story, they started the run and Lafleur opened a wide lead on everyone, including the guy from the YMCA. As the other players struggled to finish the run, they were greeted in the dressing room by Lafleur, who was smoking a cigarette.
“We talked on the phone when he was first diagnosed and we texted a little,” Devellano said of his communication with Bossy. “He sent me a text telling me he was fighting and I responded wishing him well. And I wasn’t getting texts back and I knew what that meant.”
Loved watching the skill and precision with which he played. Had the opportunity to watch him when he was in Laval and he seemed to never miss ...and he got pounded by every stick hound around trying to get him off his game.
His skill in scoring was matched only by his mental toughness.
Great article : RIP Mr Bossy.
Excellent column. Thanks.